Con­sume in small, fre­quent amounts: Between 20–200mg per hour may be an optim­al dose for cog­nit­ive func­tion.

Play to your cog­nit­ive strengths: Caf­feine may increase the speed with which you work, may decrease atten­tion­al lapses, and may even bene­fit recall – but is less likely to bene­fit more com­plex cog­nit­ive func­tions, and may even hurt oth­ers. Plan accord­ingly.

Play to caffeine’s strengths: Caffeine’s effects can be max­im­ized or min­im­ized depend­ing on what else is in your sys­tem at the time.

Know when to stop – and when to start again: Although you may not grow strongly tol­er­ant to caf­feine, you can become depend­ent on it and suf­fer with­draw­al symp­toms. Bal­ance these con­cerns with the cog­nit­ive and health bene­fits asso­ci­ated with caf­feine con­sump­tion – and appro­pri­ately timed resump­tion.